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About Bill Brieger

Bill Brieger is currently a Professor in the Health Systems Program of the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins University. He was a Professor in Health Education at the African Regional Health Education Centre, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, from 1976 to 2002. His research interests have focused on the social and behavioral aspects of tropical disease control, and in the area of malaria research, funded by the Unicef/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Tropical Disease Research program (TDR) and USAID implementing partners, this has included acceptability of pre-packaged antimalarial drugs, urban malaria, role of patent medicine sellers in malaria treatment, and community and cultural perceptions of malaria as a basis for village health worker training and health education (see sample publications below).

Bill was a member of the team that developed and pilot tested the original Roll Back Malaria needs assessment tools in 1998. From 2003 to 2006 he provided technical assistance, program coordination and planning for USAID’s Malaria Action Coalition in Nigeria to bring about policy and program change in malaria case management and malaria in pregnancy, and was also involved in developing Nigeria’s malaria BCC strategy. Bill also served as an adviser to the VOICES Malaria Advocacy Program of JHU’s Center for Communication Program from 2005-09.* He was also a member of the Mectizan Expert Committee and thus maintains an interest in the control of onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis and other neglected tropical diseases.

He received a BA in political science and a MPH in health education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his DrPH from the Johns Hopkins University. He lectures primarily in online course offerings by JHSPH and Coursera on the principles of health education, the social and behavioral foundations of primary health care, personnel development and training methods, communication theory, qualitative research, urban health and program consultation skills.

“It’s a really good way to make it work for you,” says David Williams, MPH ’09, who lived and worked a demanding job in Rockville, Maryland, editing technical journals while earning his degree. After working from 8:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. he would have dinner at home and then “jump online and spend two to three hours listening to lectures or doing the other work.” It was, he says, the only way he could have earned his degree,” plus it came with some unexpected insights that enriched the experience. “I took several classes with [International Health Professor] William Brieger including one called Training Methods and Continuous Education for Health Workers,” he says. “And while that course was going on, Professor Brieger was actually out in the field in Africa doing his work. It was pretty neat to hear from someone who was working on the issues he was talking about.”

Salami KK and Brieger WR. Consumer response and satisfaction with prepackaged antimalarial drugs for children in Aba, Nigeria. International Quarterly of Community Health Education 2005-06; 24(3): 213-227.

Goodman C, Brieger W, Unwin A, Mills A, Meek S, Greer G. Medicine sellers and malaria treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa: what do they do and how can their practice be improved? American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2007; 77 (6 Suppl): 203-18.

My name is Christina Shaw and I run the Stop Cholera website (https://www.stopcholera.org/), created under the DOVE Project which is led by Dr. David Sack. We came across ‘Oral Cholera Vaccination in Emergencies: Experiences from Freetown, Republic of Sierra Leone’ and feel that it would be a great addition to our blog.

Bill, your paper on simian malaria says that P. vivax originated in Asia, this is disputed by recent research. I personally think that it is not possible that Duffy negativity attained near saturation level in SubSaharan Africa unless Pv originated there and escaped Africa before it reached saturation point.

https://t.co/yKKsmAEpSv @MinSanteRDC #Ebola 23 May 2019: Since beginning of epidemic, cumulative number of cases is 1,888, of which 1,800 confirmed 88 are probable. In total, there were 1,254 deaths (1,166 confirmed and 88 probable) and 492 people cured. 11 new confirmed cases